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September 20 – October 20, 2009 Newsletter

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The Site as of 20 October 2009...
Done! Stage 1 - Clear land & shift materials to site
Done! Stage 2 – Break ground & lay foundations
Almost! Stage 3 – Raise the walls (nearly there!)
Stage 4 – Roofing
Stage 5 – Plastering, pointing and finishing


What we’ve been up to this month...

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Mangalasi Construction Company arrived this month and broke ground on the 24 September. We have been told by many that bringing a structure to ground level is the most time-consuming and resource intensive phase of any construction project. October is also the hottest month of the year in Malawi. With this in mind, the labourers’ rapid progress is even more impressive. After finalising and marking out the location for each structure, nearly a week was spent digging the one-metre deep foundations using just shovels, hoes and axes. The next step was pouring “footing concrete,” a ten centimetre concrete bottom layer upon which bricks are laid up to the ground level. Once at ground level, the soil is backfilled and levelled ready for the concrete slab which will be the floor of the structure. When the concrete slab has fully dried, bricklaying can begin.

With all this activity, there has been a real buzz on site which has motivated everyone. Mangalasi Construction Company have brought a troop of energetic labourers with them, but have also hired labourers from the community – including three TEVET trainees from a previous development project in Chisala, evidence of the TEVET scheme’s success. While it is clear this team of labourers are hard working (on site six days a week from 6am – 5pm), there is also a real sense of fun and camaraderie on site, which keeps us all going on those long days. Having waited so long for activity, it is exciting to see things moving along quickly and they have now completed the foundations for both the maternity clinic and Medical Assistant’s house and the walls are rising daily.



How Bricks are Made

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As mentioned in the previous newsletter, the community are working with us to clear the land, collect sand and make bricks as part of their 25% contribution to this project. This past month the community has focussed on bricks which accounts for the bulk of their contribution. Below we outline the long and labour-intensive process to explain how bricks are made in rural areas such as Chisala (pictures below). #

- A thick mud is made using soil and water (must be near a water supply).
- The mud is put into a wooden mould so that the mud takes the shape of a brick (repeat this step thousands of times!) These wet bricks are left to dry in the sun for 3 days until they harden.
- The dried bricks are then used as building blocks to create an “oven.” The number of bricks will determine the size of the oven and number of “doors.”
- The exterior of the oven is then covered with a layer of mud so that it will retain the heat when it is burned.
- Firewood must then be collected – enough to sustain several large fires which will be set in each of the doors.
- The fires need to be kept going for 12 hours and are therefore monitored as wood must be added. Once hot enough, the doors are ‘closed’ or covered with broken bricks and mud to trap in the heat, creating temperatures high enough to turn dried mud into solid bricks.
- Once the oven has been burned and left to cool for at least 3-4 days, the bricks are collected and transported to the construction site. The outer bricks which are covered in mud are generally not used.



Community Contributions

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One of the most important aspects of this project is that it is a community-based effort. But working with a community in rural Malawi can often be challenging as this project is not their main priority. Men work hard to make a living for their families or labour in the fields while women work from morning until night to simply keep their families going. Whether going to the market, cooking, tending fires, washing clothes, washing dishes, bathing babies or tending to their crops, people here are busy, which sometimes makes community contributions difficult. The other issue is that there is no easy way to disseminate information. Without e-mails, mobile phones or even the ability to post a simple letter, it is difficult to inform people when we need help. Generally a note or message is sent to a village headmen and it is up to him to tell his people. This doesn’t always happen. Finally, there is that age old problem: Everyone thinks that someone else is helping. This has been frustrating, but seen in this context, understandable. While the community contribution has not been one of overwhelming assistance and support, it has been steady and, most importantly, strong enough to make the project move forward.

Having said that, there is one demographic who can’t do enough to help, and that is the children of Chisala. Children as young as two and three try to help us load and offload bricks and while they can’t do a lot, we love having them around.

But boys and girls from ages six and seven upwards, these kids have made this project happen. Just when it seems there is no way we can finish a certain task, twelve kids will appear and offer to help. Often we will collect a load of building materials and then we are distracted by something else before we can offload. When our attention returns, we find that the truck is empty. In most situations, a group of young boys have offloaded and swept the truck clean without us even asking. When we collect bricks, we can always be assured that there will be no fewer than six young people assisting us. The other day, we arrived on site to find the entire primary school carrying bricks on their heads from the oven behind their classrooms to the maternity clinic – it was quite a sight. These kids give us endless entertainment and joy. On the busiest and most stressful days, they make us stop to play a game or to make us laugh. For this, we are eternally grateful.

Stories from Chisala

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Here is a photo of a four-day old little girl who was brought to the health clinic a couple of weeks ago. She was born October 4th at home. The mother characterized the birth as a “self delivery.” That day we learned that in Malawi, babies are not named until their umbilical cord falls off.

This story may not be as closely related to the maternity clinic as other stories have been, however, (at the risk of sounding cheesy) it is one that is close to our hearts. Moles (Mo-leez) Sambo is one and a half years old. She was born in December 2007 along with her twin sister, Maureen. One year later, as she was just learning to walk she stumbled, face-first into a fire as her parents worked close by in their field. Nine months later, her face has nearly healed, but the scar tissue is bad, and her left eye and mouth are disfigured. Although she has received basic healthcare at the Chisala health clinic (i.e. weekly dressing changes and antibiotics), the family of six have been unable to explore further medical assistance because of financial constraints. For people living in rural areas, a visit to a central hospital is not straightforward or inexpensive. Often, the whole process can take weeks, and the time and costs associated with travel to and from the hospital as well as food and living expenses make it an exhausting and difficult upheaval for a family. These deterrents often prevent some of the neediest people from getting the medical attention they so desperately need.

While it is not possible to help everyone we see at the clinic, we felt Moles and her family were an exceptional case. For the equivalent of $15 USD of the money you helped us to raise, Moles and her family were able to travel to the Mzuzu Central Hospital, where they stayed for nearly two weeks and were seen by doctors who have scheduled reconstructive eye surgery for her at the end of this month. Report on her progress to follow.

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Last month we told you about one of our TEVET trainees, Christian, and his wife, Daliess, who are expecting twins. Well, nearly four weeks later, Daliess was still at the Nkhata Bay District Hospital living at their guardian shelter. Christian returned from visiting her this past week and announced that she had been placed on bed rest as the doctor’s were now convinced she was expecting not twins, but triplets. Christian made no secret of the fact that he was scared of being father to three babies, but he was even more concerned for the health of his wife. Multiple births in America and Europe are high risk, so here in Malawi there is even greater cause for concern. But we are pleased to report that Daliess safely delivered twin girls (not triplets!) on Monday the 19th October. We picked them up from the hospital on Tuesday, October 27th.

Us!

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After the last newsletter, several people said, “We want to see a picture of you guys!” Here we are, in all our dusty and sweaty glory. (Left to right: Emily Kerr-Muir, Andy Keet, Maggy Keet)











Thank you!

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This month we would like to highlight the generous grants from The Diocese of Connecticut from their Millennium Development Goal Fund and The Jephcott Charitable Trust (www.jephcottcharitabletrust.org.uk) which funds health, environment and education projects in the UK and overseas.
We have continued to receive donations this past month and for that we are truly grateful.

Contact Details

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Maggy & Andy: 00 (265) 88 402 7251 / Emily: 00 (265) 88 843 6248
Because internet access is relatively scarce and the connections we get are so slow, we are not checking our project mail as often as we were and have reverted to using our own email accounts. For more information or for ways to get involved please contact one of us:
maggykeet@googlemail.com / andykeet@hotmail.com / emkm99@hotmail.com

Maggy, Andy, and Emily are now in Malawi, deeply entrenched in working on the Maternity Clinic, Doctor's House, and outbuildings.

This email was sent to me by Maggy on September 7th, and the story too touching not to share. It really brings home that they are all exactly where they are supposed to, and need to be. They are making the world a better place with the work they're doing in Malawi.

- Amber

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Dear Friends,

Well this week has been testing to say the least. One of those weeks
where I wonder why I am here. But also one of those weeks where I
completely see why I am here.

Andy and I were sitting outside the clinic one morning early this
week, doing some planning and number crunching when Mrs. Nyali, the
only clinic nurse, tapped on the glass and motioned for us to come
over. Through the window she said, I am alone here and the clinic is
very busy, but I need someone to sit with this very sick baby until
her mother comes back. We immediately agreed, walked around, came
inside and went to the back room of the clinic. There was a 6-month
old baby girl lying alone on a big bed. Her clothes had been taken
off and she was wrapped in sort of a damp cloth. Her body was arched,
her arms outstretched and rigid by her sides, her eyes were rolling
around and into the back of her head, her breathing was laboured. I
recognized immediately what was going on. The week before when we
were staying at the guest house in Nkhata Bay we had a big BBQ with
some of the other people staying there, one of which was a Scottish
med student. He had just completed a stint in a Blantyre (Southern
Malawi) hospital and during our conversation about malaria he had told
us about the almost-always deadly cerebral malaria and how it
presented in children: arms outstretched and rigid by their sides. He
had shown us what this looked like and this is exactly what this baby
was doing. I have never felt so helpless in my entire life. Mrs.
Nyali explained that this infant girl had just vomited from her mouth
and nose and had been convulsing and she wanted us there in case it
happened again, but she really needed to get back to seeing the dozens
of other people who were waiting to be seen before the clinic closed.
This baby was obviously being taken to the District Hospital as
nothing could be done at the clinic, but the mother had gone to tell a
nearby friend she was going to the hospital who would then go on to
pass the message to her family who lived far away.

Andy and I were left alone with this tiny person who was suffering so
badly. We didn’t want to pick her up and make her even more
uncomfortable, so we just stroked her, rubbed her and talked to her.
We watched her for only twenty minutes or so, but I am serious when I
say there were several moments where Andy and I both thought this
little girl was leaving the world. Her breathing would go from heavy
and laboured to an abrupt stop in just one breath. Scared as I was,
we didn’t want her to die alone – we wanted her to feel the presence
of people around her, loving her. It all got a bit much though and I
teared up just moments before the mother came back to the room. I had
to quickly leave the room and dry my eyes as Andy said, “you have to
be strong for the mother.” She was very upset too – she tried, in
vain, to bend the baby’s arms, to uncurl her tightly clenched fists,
but to no avail. Things weren’t looking good. The motorbike came and
the woman was loaded into the covered side cart with her baby. We
were all sure she wouldn’t make the journey to the District Hospital.
The rest of that day, I thought of this little girl. I woke up in the
night and for two hours thought of this little girl. Wondering if she
had made it.

The next day and for days after I asked Mrs. Nyali to let me know if
she heard anything about the baby. But I think we were all hoping for
the best, expecting the worst. If it were, in fact, cerebral malaria
there was only a slim chance of her living especially as she was so
young and treatment had likely been very delayed. But still, I kept
asking and the answer was always, “No, sorry, I haven’t heard
anything.”
Yesterday, Andy and I were playing with some boys at the playground
when a couple walked up to me. The woman said, “Sister, look!” as she
pulled the cloth away from her baby’s face. This happens often.
Women always want to show me their babies, want me to take photos,
etc. But suddenly, I made the connection. I hadn’t been at all
prepared for this. There was the little girl, I immediately
recognized her bushy eyebrows. I couldn’t believe it – here she was,
fit and well, yet still a little subdued. The woman passed the baby
to me and relayed in broken English that Mrs. Nyali had told her to
find me and tell she me that she was okay. I hugged this little girl,
kissed her head. Andy and I both rejoiced. I took a photo with her.
I will cherish it forever.